I'll Be Seeing You
by crashintherain
Summary: Why are you doing this to me? Why are you calling off our wedding five months before it happens? Am I not good enough? CC. Now updated.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Not mine. Don't sue.**

**This is my first story. Hopefully it's not as bad as I think it is is. :) Comments/flames are more than welcome!**

"Charlie!" Claire called, walking into his house. "Charlie?" she called again.

"Out here!" he called back.

Claire smiled. It had been two years since the survivors had been rescued from the Island, and life was great.

Sure, life had its challenges, but they were nothing compared to the Island. Mostly, life had been amazing.

Like when Charlie proposed. They had been dating for six months post-island, and then one day while they were at the park with Aaron, he looked at her, told her how much he loved, and dropped on one knee. Claire said yes, and Aaron asked what was wrong when he saw his mom crying, "Did Charlie hurt his knee?" he had asked.

"Mommy!" Aaron cried, interrupting her thoughts.

"Hi, Sweetie! Did you have a good time with Charlie?" Claire asked, picking the two year old up.

"Yes! We played Power Rangers! I was blue!" Aaron laughed, thinking about the days events.

"Whoa, inside voices there, Turniphead," Charlie smiled, ruffling Aaron's hair.

"Thanks for watching him, Charlie. Kate and I got some great stuff for the wedding. Speaking of weddings, I haven't been properly greeted yet," Claire giggled.

"Oh really? Well, we'll just have to do something about that, won't we?" Charlie asked, leaning down to kiss her.

"Ewwwwwwww! No kissing! Kissing is gross. Nicole at school tried to kiss me. I threw sand at her," Aaron said, remembering the look on Nicole's face.

"Aaron!" Claire scolded, "We've talked about how you're supposed to treat girls. That's not okay, Sweetie."

"But, Mommy, you said not to hit girls. You didn't say I couldn't throw sand at them," Aaron replied, genuinely confused.

Claire and Charlie both laughed, leaving Aaron even more confused.

"Oh no!" Claire cried.

"What? What's wrong?" Charlie asked.

"I'm late for Aaron's doctor's appointment, "Claire replied while gathering Aaron's stuff.

"Alright, come by later tonight," Charlie said.

"I will. I love you!" she called, leaving the house.

"Yeah, you, too." Charlie sighed.

This was going to be harder than he thought.

* * *

"I'm sorry, what?!" Claire shouted. 

"Keep down, Love, Aaron is asleep."

"Charlie! He grew up on an island with freaking polar bears! He's fine."

"Alright, alright," he retaliated.

"Why are you doing this to me, Charlie? Why are you calling off our wedding five months before it happens? Am I not good enough?" Claire asked.

"No! God, no. I love you, Claire."

"Yeah, well, explain this to me, Charlie, because I really don't understand," Claire said, trying to be strong.

Charlie sighed. Never had she said his name with such hatred. He did love her, he really did. And he was ready to be a father, too. So why was he doing this? He didn't even understand completely.

"Is it someone else?" Claire demanded, interrupting his thoughts.

"No!" How could you possibly think that?" Charlie replied, "You are the only person for me."

"I don't understand, Charlie, I really don't. You say you love me, that there's no one else. What's next? 'I really am ready to be a father.'?"

"Claire, you know I am. I just-"

"Are you using again?" Claire demanded.

"Claire! How could you even say something like that? You know I've been sober for four years," Charlie said. He knew that question would come up, but not from her. "I'm just not ready yet."

"You know what? I don't care anymore. You…I…I hate you."

And with that, she was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

Second chapter. Again, not mine. Don't sue. Reviews are amazing.

* * *

"_You're an idiot, Charlie. You really are. You left the only woman that has ever cared about you," _Charlie thought to himself later that night.

He knew that what he did was right, but he still hated himself. Or was he right? What if he wasn't?

"_What have you gotten yourself into, Charlie?"_

* * *

Kate groaned when she heard the doorbell ring. She had just gotten Mark, her six month old, to bed. Now, he would wake up, and everything would fall to pieces.

She contemplated not answering, but then remembered that Jack had left in such a rush that he could have forgotten his keys. At the third ring, Kate decided that it was Jack at the door and decided to answer it.

But who she saw was definitely not Jack.

Well, unless Jack had gotten shorter, lost weight, grew his hair out, and gotten a sex-change in twelve hours.

No, she was not staring at Jack.

"Can I come in?" Claire asked.

"Oh, yeah, sorry," Kate replied.

It was only when Claire walked into the house that Kate realized she was crying.

"Are you okay? What's wrong? Is it Aaron? Where's Charlie?" Kate asked in one breath.

"Do I look okay? Aaron's fine, and Charlie is the reason for this," Claire answered.

"What happened, then?" Kate asked.

"He called off the wedding," Claire said, sitting down at the table.

"He what?! But it's only five months away!"

"I know," was all Claire said.

"Then why did he call it off?"

"He said he wasn't ready. Kate, I don't understand what's happening."

"Kate?" Jack called, walking into the house, "why is the door unlocked? It's 10 o'clock. Kate?"

"We're in here," Kate called from the kitchen.

Jack smiled to himself. Charlie and Claire were probably over, talking about the wedding.

"Hey, guys," Jack said, kissing Kate on the forehead, "how's it going?"

"Um, Jack, now really isn't a good time," Kate said.

"Why? Oh, hey Claire," _'Wait,' _Jack thought to himself, _'Why is she crying?'_

"I'm, uh, gonna go check on Mark," Jack finally said, walking to Mark's room.

"Sorry about that," Kate said, "now, tell me everything he said."

"He said that he loved me, wasn't on drugs, he wanted to be a father, and there was no one else," Claire said.

"Claire, I think he's telling the truth. Why else would he break up with you?"

Just then, Claire's cell phone started ringing. "It's Charlie," she said.

"Answer it," Kate responded.

Claire sighed. "Hello?"

"Hey, um, it's me. You, uh, left Aaron here. He's fine, asleep, and, uh, can spend the night if you want him too, if you don't want to see me."

"No, Charlie, It's fine. I will pick up _my_ son," she snapped.

"Yeah, yeah, that's cool, too," he said.

"Whatever," Claire said, slamming her phone shut.

"What was that about?" Kate asked.

"I left Aaron at Charlie's. I really, really don't want to go there," Claire sighed.

"Go where?" Jack asked, coming into the kitchen.

"Hey, Honey, do you mind picking up Aaron at Charlie's? Claire isn't feeling well, and should probably stay the night," Kate said.

"Oh, cool. Yeah, that's fine."

"Here," Claire said, "take my car so you don't have to worry about the booster seat."

"Hey, Claire?" Jack asked.

"Yeah?"

"Are you okay?"

"I will be…I hope."

* * *

That night, neither Charlie nor Claire got much sleep.

Claire was busying thinking about all the things she did wrong that had brought them to this point.

'_Was I too pushy? Did I drive him away with all the wedding talk? How am I going to tell Aaron?'_

Aaron.

He was just starting to call Charlie "Daddy", and now they weren't even dating. Why was Charlie doing this?

On the other side of town, Charlie was thinking about all the things Claire had done right.

She raised a kid on an island. She loved him for who he was, and didn't try to change him. She had beautiful hair.

"Hair?" Charlie asked aloud. He sighed, it was perfect.

Everything about her was perfect. Everything about _them_ was perfect.

Except him.

Charlie groaned and turned over. 4:37AM.

He hated 4:37AM. Bad things happened at 4:37AM.

Charlie couldn't think of anything that happened, good or bad, but there had to be a reason no one talked about 4:37AM.

4:38AM.

* * *

Claire woke up the next morning at 10.

She shot up and ran to the kitchen were Kate was cooking pancakes.

"I am so, so sorry, Kate! I really did not mean to wake up this late."

"It's okay, Hon," Kate smiled, "Aaron already ate and is watching TV with Jack in the other room."

"Thank you so much for letting us stay the night. I promise we'll be out of here by three," Claire said.

"Don't worry about it. Stay as long as you need to," Kate smiled, flipping pancakes.

"Thanks," Claire grinned.

After a few more minutes of small talk, the door bell rang.

"Can I get it?" Aaron asked excitedly, "Daddy has been teaching me to open the door."

"Go ahead, Little Guy. Just shut it if it's Mr. Sawyer, okay?" Jack winked.

"Jack! That's terrible!" Kate said, suppressing giggles.

"Ah, yes, but so true."

Claire smirked. This was always how she pictured herself and Charlie. Only instead of Sawyer, Charlie would have taught Aaron to slam the door on Locke.

"Daddy," however, was the last thing Claire wanted to hear.

* * *

A/N 2: How was it? Review, review, review! Haha. 


	3. Chapter 3

Again, Lost does not belong to me.. Enjoy!

* * *

As Charlie cleared his throat, Claire tried to think of the best way to escape.

"Um, Charlie, now really isn't a good time," Claire heard Kate say.

Claire decided that the best thing to do would be to just suck it up and leave now.

"Kate? Aaron and I will just leave now. We have some places to go."

"No, please don't go," Charlie pleaded, "I'll leave."

"Thanks for letting us stay the night," Claire said, ignoring Charlie.

"Yeah!" Aaron exclaimed, "It was fun! Are you coming with us, Daddy?"

"Not today, Turniphead," Charlie smiled sadly.

"Okay. I luf you!"

It was too much for Claire to take, so she picked up Aaron and brushed passed Charlie.

Kate, Jack, and Charlie stood in an awkward silence for three minutes until Charlie spoke up.

"I'm an idiot," was all he said.

"Ya think?!" Kate exclaimed, "Do you have any idea how much she's hurting right now? She came here, sobbing, last at 9:30, forgot her own son, and cried herself to sleep."

"Kate," Jack soothed, "Calm down. I think he realizes that."

"Why did you do it, Charlie?" Kate asked, this time more composed.

"I'm not ready," Charlie answered.

"Whatever. You were ready a week ago."

"And now I'm not, okay?"

"Charlie," Jack said, "What is really going on?"

Charlie sighed. "I got signed to a record label."

"Okay? We knew this already. Claire was thrilled for you," Jack said.

"I know. But I got to thinking about the first time I was on a label, and how horrible everything turned out. I got addicted to , had a different groupie every night, and went out partying all the time. I just couldn't put Claire through that," Charlie explained. His answers really did sound laughable, but they were true.

As Jack examined Charlie, he realized he had never seen the younger man so selfless, scared, and alone.

"I don't trust myself when she isn't around," Charlie continued, "She keeps me stable. And I couldn't ask her to go with me because Aaron is starting preschool. How fair would that be?"

"Charlie," Kate said softly, "She would understand all of this. And she would go, in a heartbeat."

"I know. And that's why I did what I did," Charlie said, "I couldn't ask her to come because she would. I would be holding her back from what she can do. She's amazing, and I'm a washed up rock star who can't even _think_ about going on a six week tour without going crazy."

Just then, Mark started to cry, startling everyone.

"I'll get him," Kate said, "why don't you two go and talk some more?"

"Okay," Jack answered, "Let's take my car."

Charlie just nodded, too upset to reply.

* * *

"Mommy?" Aaron asked.

"Yes, Dear?"

Aaron sighed.

"Are you alright, Love?" Claire asked.

"Aaron just shook his head.

"What's wrong?" Claire asked.

"I miss, Daddy," Aaron said through tears.

"What?" Claire asked.

"I want Daddy. Is he coming home?"

Claire was shocked. How did he know about Charlie?

"Sweetie, Daddy is going away for awhile," Claire replied.

"Why? Does he still love me?"

Claire's heart was breaking. The most painful thing Claire ever went through seemed like a happy moment compared to this. Seeing her four year old son crying and asking if the only father he knew loved him, it was more than she could take.

"Aaron, Daddy loves you so much. He's just sad right now," Claire answered.

"Is he sad because I called him a stink head? I can tell him sorry!"

Claire tried her hardest not to start sobbing. How could Charlie do this?

"Hey, Aaron. I have an idea. Let's go to Burger King. You can get a milkshake!" Claire said.

"Okay, Mommy," Aaron replied.


End file.
